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Batman R.I.P.
. Batman notices the Joker making a pattern of red and black, which he takes to symbolize good and evil, life and death, the joke and the punchline. He is unable to get information, but remarks that if he was scared he wouldn't be Batman. Batman R.I.P. Doctor Hurt prepares his organization The Black Glove for a " ," assembling the Club of Villains and Le Bossu. Meanwhile Batman and Robin take the new Batmobile out for a test drive, dealing with a new villain called the Green Vulture. After this, Bruce spends more time with his girlfriend Jezebel Jet, who receives a "Danse Macabre" invitation. Tim worries about Bruce's mental health since the Thögal Ritual as he has become obsessed with the Black Glove conspiracy, but Alfred insists they must never underestimate Bruce's mind. However, Tim is still upset that no one has told him the results of Damian's paternity test. To top it all, The Black Glove invite Joker to be part of their plan. Days later, Batman fights one of Bossu's gargoyle henchmen, who secretly dose him with ; meanwhile Jim Gordon is approached by Gotham's Mayor, who has learned a dark and terrible secret about Thomas and Martha Wayne, indicating that they were perverted drug addicts and he is willing to expose the truth to the world. Later, Bruce shows Jezebel the Batcave, and she expresses concern that he's not mentally well. He explains that the Black Glove seems to know everything about him, and he's using the Batcomputer to look for patterns and the test results show the phrase "Zur En Arrh" all over Gotham, but Bruce sees only static. Jezebel speaks the phrase out loud and Bruce's mind completely shuts just when Hurt's minions enter the Batcave, and Bossu beats Alfred with a club. They drug Bruce with heroin and crystal meth, then dump him into the streets without his memory. Hurt puts on Thomas Wayne's Batman Costume and toasts to crime, making the Batcave their base of operations. The Club of Villains are sent to kill Batman's allies and Robin is attacked by Pierrot Lunaire and Swagman while reading the Black Casebook, but he escapes. Nightwing is captured by Scorpiana, who brings him to Arkham Asylum where he is locked away by Le Bossu. Bruce is woken by the homeless drug-addict Honor Jackson, who he'd saved as Batman some nights before. Bruce and Honor travel the city in Honor's pursuit for drugs, while Bruce slowly puts himself back together. Honor gives Bruce a broken radio he calls the Bat-Radia, then tells him to talk to the drug dealer Lone-Eye Lincoln and disappears. Lincoln is located on Crime Alley, and he explains that Honor died the previous day after overdosing. Knowing that his mind is not right, Bruce sews himself a brightly-colored new costume, announcing himself as the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh while Bat-Mite suddenly appears. Batman runs around in his new costume talking to Bat-Mite and the city itself. Bat-Mite explains that Hurt developed Zur-En-Arrh as a trigger phrase to switch off Batman and as a result, Batman created the "Batman of Zur-En-Arrh" as a back-up personality to protect himself from such an attack. This streamlines his mind by removing Bruce so that there's only Batman left. At the moment, Robin escapes from Swagman and alerts Knight and Squire that Batman is in trouble, while Gordon arrives at Wayne Manor, but he walks directly into a trap set by the Black Glove. Batman takes down Charlie Caligula and then interrogates him about the Black Glove. Hurt claims to Alfred that he is actually Thomas Wayne, and accuses Alfred of fathering Bruce in an affair with Martha. Meanwhile, Le Bossu has Jeremiah Arkham beaten and takes control of Arkham Asylum, where they intend to hold the Danse Macabre. Jezebel is dragged inside, and soon Joker is released from his cell. Hurt assembles a group of extremely wealthy gamblers to bet on whether Batman will live or die. Bossu frees the Joker from his cell and Joker goes on a rampage by disfiguring his face, taking out El Sombrero and reaching Hurt, who tells him to attack Batman, who had just arrived at Arkham. Bat-Mite can't go inside Arkham as he is Bruce's fading echo of reason, and reason won't fit through those doors. Batman asks if Bat-Mite is a hyper-imp from the 5th Dimension or a figment of his imagination, and Bat-Mite replies that the 5th Dimension is imagination. Meanwhile, Gordon is rescued from Wayne Manor by Damian and Talia al Ghul, who explain that they are looking for Batman. Batman fights his way through henchmen looking for the Joker, as the Joker taunts him over the intercom. Batman yells that he figured out the red and black pattern, but Joker explains the real joke is that there never was a pattern. He bursts in on the Joker, demanding to see Jezebel. They fight and Joker taunts him for trying to understand his madness, having made an even more brutal evolution. Bruce takes his hood off and sees Jezebel about to be killed with toxin through a window. He bursts through and succumbs to the poison, while Jezebel puts a black glove on and reveals that she was part of the Black Glove all along. Batman wakes up wearing a straitjacket and buried inside a coffin. In flashback he remembers the Thögal ritual, which helped him create his backup personality and discover the Black Glove's plans. Robin is finally cornered by Pierrot and Swagman, but Knight and Squire arrive with the Club of Heroes to rescue him. Meanwhile, Joker kills one member of the Glove, and places a bet that Batman will rise up and destroy them. Joker handles the Bat-Radia, and they're horrified to realize Batman converted it to override Arkham's security system. At that moment, Bossu attempts to lobotomize the comatose Nightwing, but Nightwing wakes up and overcomes the villains by locking them in the room. Batman easily escapes from his straitjacket, breaks his way through the coffin and climbs up through the soil. Batman explains that he suspected Jet all along, and played along to discover her plan. Joker escapes in an ambulance, but Damian runs him off the road in the Batmobile. Batman chases Hurt to the rooftop of Arkham, where Hurts tries to force Batman into joining and serving the Black Glove. Bruce refuses and Hurt escapes in a helicopter piloted by the Bat-Devil. Bruce jumps on and punches through the windshield, causing the helicopter to explode over the river. Nightwing stands in the roof of Arkham holding Batman's cowl. Days later, Jezebel flies away of Gotham, but the flight is destroyed by Talia's Man-Bat Commandos. Six months later Bossu, the only remaining member of the Black Glove left free, was finally captured by Batman. It all ends with Bruce remembering leaving Monarch Theater after a screening of The Mark of Zorro on the night his parents were killed. He idolized Zorro, but his father explained "they'd probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham." The Great Leap Shortly after the events at Arkham Asylum, Two-Face tasks Nightwing to protect an old flame of Harvey Dent's, Carol Bermingham, a witness in a high profile mob trial. While Nightwing manages to save her, escort her to court, and lock her safely in one of Batman's safe houses, he's shot by bullets coated with Scarecrow's fear toxin. Temporarily incapacitated, Nightwing is unable to save Bermingham from her killer: Two-Face himself. Harvey Dent and Two-face have become as two separate beings inside one body, each unaware of the other's actions. While Nightwing still blames himself for the happening, Two-Face blames Nightwing for being able to act unstopped and plans vengeance on New York City, which is at the moment Nightwing's city. In the end, Nightwing saves the city from Two-Face's plan to attack the city with airships loaded with acid and takes the criminal down as well. Heart of Hush Having heard that the Black Glove plans to kill Batman, Hush returns to Gotham City to destroy Batman before they can strike. Hush and Scarecrow make an alliance to keep Batman distracted with one of Scarecrow's schemes while Hush captures Catwoman and surgically removes ther heart from her body. After stopping Scarecrow, Batman locates Hush's secret hideout and tries to secure Selina's heart, but he falls into a trap by Hush, who reveals that he has operated his face in order to look identical to Bruce Wayne. Leaving Bruce to fight his mindless henchmen, Hush goes to Wayne Manor to eliminate all of Batman's allies. However, Bruce manages to break free, secures Selina's heart and goes to Wayne Manor to fight Hush. They take the fight into the Batcave and soon, Hush is outnumbered by Batman's allies. He tries to leave the place, but ends up disappearing from the cave after an almost lethal accident. Selina was saved and after a succesful recovery, she starts planning her revenge against Hush. With help from friends and allies, Selina is able to rob Hush from the entire Elliot fortune, leaving him broke and helpless. Outsiders No More After the final confrontation with the Black Glove, Batman is nowhere to be found and the Outsiders have no clear direction as to what to do next. All of them start looking for Batman across Gotham, but to no avail. They all return to their headquarters, when suddenly a message from Batman arrives, asking for their help. Batgirl and Green Arrow deduce that the message is fake, but despite this, she decides to follow the message instructions in order to use the enemy's plan to locate the real Batman. However as they follow the instructions of the message, a code is downloaded into REMAC and causes the android to explode. Salah Miandad dies, Metamorpho is discorporated and Thunder falls into a deep coma. The other members blame Batman for having abandoned them and Batgirl for causing the accident and they all decide to leave the team. Cassandra then discovers an encrypted message in which Simon Hurt takes credit for the destruction created and she vows to assemble a new team of Outsiders that together, will be able to replace the missing Batman. However, Nightwing doesn't really like the idea. Scattered Pieces Robin reflects on his activities with Nightwing during the Thögal Ritual. He reads through the Black Casebook and worries that Batman has really gone crazy. Tim asks Jamie Harper to check GCPD files, explaining that he needs someone he can trust as much as Batman trusts Jim Gordon. Spoiler joins him fighting his way across Gotham to find Bruce, and they take down the Sprang Bridge Soldiers together. After paying the Penguin to help him find Batman, he swears that he will save him or take him down. Jason Bard insists he hasn't seen Batman in weeks. Harper is targeted by corrupt cops in her department Marcus Wise and Roman Cavallo. Tim takes down Swagman and steals his bike when he's ambushed. Spoiler sabotages Tim's attempts to find Batman, and eventually he realizes she is doing this. She explains that Batman told her to. Batman believes Tim will one day have to carry on in his absence, so he instructed Stephanie to prevent Tim from intervening. Tim is furious at Stephanie, but swears he will protect Gotham even if Batman has truly gone. The Missing Chapter | Issues = * Batman R.I.P. ** -- Midnight in the House of Hurt ** -- Batman in the Underworld ** -- Zur En Arrh ** -- Miracle on Crime Alley ** -- The Thin White Duke of Death ** -- Hearts in Darkness * Batman: Heart of Hush ** ** ** ** ** * Batman and the Outsiders: Outsiders No More ** ** ** * Nightwing: The Great Leap ** ** ** ** * Robin: Scattered Pieces ** ** * The Missing Chapter * * | Vehicles = Batmobile, Robin's Motorcycle | Items = Bat-Radia, Batcomputer | Weapons = | Notes = * The Tie-Ins to the main storyline take place in the following order: ** Batman: Heart of Hush serves as a prelude to the main storyline. ** Robin: Scattered Pieces takes place during the main storyline between and . ** Outsiders No More and Nightwing: The Great Leap take place after the main storyline. | Trivia = | RecommendedReading = | Links = * }} Category:Grant Morrison's Batman Category:Nightwing Storylines Category:Robin Storylines